Blackmail Backfire
by TheNovelArtist
Summary: Day 2 AU August - College AU. She swore she was the only person in the whole world that had enough bad luck to end up with Chloe in her class for going on ten years in a row. But just why did this time have to involve blackmail and a cute boy?


"Look," Chloe said. "I just need you to do this for me."

"But, the teacher—"

"He's not going to know!" Chloe snapped. "Gah, this was so much easier when Sabrina was here. Why'd she have to go study aboard!"

"Well, I could think of a reason," Marinette grumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I need you to go to all those tutoring sessions for me. Get a signature from the nerd saying that Chloe Bourgeois was there so I can hand it into the teacher and she can't argue that I haven't been there."

"So, you want me to go to pretend that I'm you so that you can get credit for going to mandatory tutoring?"

"Look, she finally gets it!" Chloe cried. "That's exactly right because if you don't, you know what will happen." To prove a point, Chloe waved her cell phone that contained some pretty damning photos.

Marinette bit her lip. She didn't want to do this, go sit in for Chloe just because Ms. Mendeleiev mandated Chloe to science tutoring. But she also didn't want those pictures plastered all over the place.

And it wasn't like she _couldn't_ benefit from a little tutoring herself.

"Fine," she relented. "I'll do it."

"Good," Chloe purred before holding out a sheet of paper. "This needs to get signed after the session so I can turn it in for credit."

Marinette took the sheet. "Got it."

"Good." Chloe turned on her heel and strode down the hallway. "Have a good time at tutoring."

Marinette could only groan. She swore she was the only person in the whole world that had enough bad luck to end up with Chloe in her class for going on ten years in a row.

* * *

She hesitantly walked into the library and told the person at the counter that she was there for tutoring. They indicated a table for her to sit at and politely told her that the tutor would be there in a moment. She thanked them, then took a seat and started pulling out all her books as well as the piece of paper she had to get signed.

And that's when she realized she needed to be Chloe Bourgeois.

Guilt twisted in her gut, but she was doing what she had to in order to make sure that none of the photos Chloe had on her phone saw the light of day.

"Sorry I'm late." A man dressed in a green button-up plopped down in the seat across from her. He set down his messenger bag on the table before running a hand through his unruly blonde hair to push it away from his glasses. He then extended that hand to her. "Adrien Agreste."

"Ma- name's Chloe Bourgeois," she quickly covered.

"Nice meeting you, Chloe. Now, what can I help you with?"

It took a moment for Marinette to get her thoughts in order, but soon she was showing him the chapter that they were on and saying she basically understood… nothing. She understood nothing.

She needed tutoring with or without Chloe's blackmail.

The next hour and a half was Adrien very calmly and patiently explaining the entire chapter to her. He broke it down into little pieces for her to understand, and by the end, she was completing the practice problems with little issue.

"Thank you so much," she said.

"No problem."

"Oh, before you go," she said. "Can you sign this off for me?"

He looked at the page. "Oh, Ms. Mendeleiev," he grimaced. "She's really harsh, but she does want students to pass. Usually, though when she hands out forms like these, she's really done."

Marinette cringed. "Uh, yeah, I… uh… have a tardiness streak a mile long," she managed. "She's not happy about it."

"I suggest setting your clock ahead a few minutes?" he suggested, handing the now signed paper back over.

"Tried that. Not helping."

"Alarms?"

"Sleep through them or miss them all together."

"Well, that's all I've got. Normally, people only need one of those things."

"Tell me about it," she grumbled, shoving her books back in her bag. "I'm a mess."

He chuckled. "Well, Miss Mess, if you ever need any more help in science, be sure to ask for me specifically at the desk."

"Thank you."

"Have a good one and best of luck getting back on Ms. Mendeleiev's good side."

She cringed a smile. "Thanks."

* * *

She found herself back with Adrien next week.

And the week after.

And the week after.

Chloe was staying off her back, and Marinette was passing her class. Nothing could go wrong.

"Do you want to go get coffee or something?"

Until now.

Marinette's heart sunk. "Umm…"

She watched as hope slowly drained from his face. "Oh," he said. "Okay. I'm sorry. I—"

"Sure."

He paused.

"I haven't had lunch yet. Do you know of any good places?"

He blinked a few times. "Yeah," he eventually said. "Yeah, I do. I'm a terrible cook so I eat out more than I should."

And soon, they were on their way to somewhere Marinette had never been. But it was fantastic.

The company, not the food. That was only mediocre.

* * *

The more she saw him, the more she realized just how much trouble she was in. It came back to haunt her every time he called her Chloe. And then came the week she realized that she couldn't keep this up.

Because she really, really liked him.

But every time she wanted to tell him, Chloe would come by to drop off the tutor sign-off slip and wave the phone in front of Marinette, reminding her that she couldn't tell a soul.

"Hey." Adrien nudged her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she lied. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired."

He nodded. "Do you want to take a break?"

"We only just started."

"We've been at this for a half hour."

She checked the clock. Oh.

Adrien reached over to shut the book. "I'm calling it. You've been distracted since the get-go. Something's wrong."

"Nothing," she assured.

"Chloe," he said in a voice so kind it ripped her heart apart. "What's going on."

She sighed. Well… she could tell him the truth. "I tell you, and you can't ask any more questions."

He nodded. "Okay. I'm listening."

"I'm being blackmailed."

His gaze hardened. "By who?"

"No questions."

His frown deepened as his eyes turned fiery. "You're being blackmailed and expect me to just sit by and watch it happen?"

"Its fine," she said. "It's minor."

"It doesn't hurt you, does it?"

 _Yes._ "No. Please, just let it go."

He still looked pensive but relented with a sigh. "Fine," he grumbled.

"Thank you."

"But swear to me you'll say something if it gets out of hand."

It already had, but she couldn't tell him. "I swear."

* * *

The only reason he was at this party was because Nino was here.

He was going to say hi, meet his best friend's girlfriend, and then walk out before too much alcohol was passed around.

"You gonna show me the girl you've flipped for," Nino goaded. "The supposedly pretty and sweet one you're tutoring."

He blushed. "I don't have a picture."

Nino gave him a dubious look. "Your hobby is photography, and you _don't_ have a picture for her?" he asked doubtfully.

Knowing he was cornered, Adrien pulled out his phone and pulled up a candid shot of Chloe, one where she was walking shyly into the library and nervously wringing her hands together and he just wanted to curl her up in his arms and protect her from whatever horrible evil was making her so nervous. Now knowing about the blackmail, it likely had to do with that. But he gave his word, so he wouldn't do anything except be there for her.

Nino nodded slowly. "She's adorable."

"Who's adorable?"

"My bro's girlfriend."

"Not girlfriend," Adrien quickly corrected.

The brunette scoffed. "Yeah, 'cause I totally believe that with the blush on your cheeks."

His face heated up further.

Nino grabbed his shoulder. "Bro, Alya. Babe, Adrien."

"Nice meeting you," Alya said. "Now can I see the picture?"

"She's a journalist," Nino said. "But that's just code for 'nosy'."

"Shush," she playfully chastised, smacking his arm. "Let me see the photo. What's her name?"

"Chloe Bourgeois."

Alya's face immediately hardened. "Chloe Bourgeois? You like _Chloe_?"

Adrien's brow furrowed in confusion. "Yeah. She's the sweetest girl I've even met."

Alya barked in laughter. "Are you hearing yourself? Chloe's a snake. A witch. Evil. How can you like—" her rant was immediately silenced when Adrien showed her the picture. Now, it was her turn to look completely confused. "That's Marinette."

"No, her name's Chloe."

"No," Alya said, pulling out her own phone. "That's Marinette. My best friend from high school."

With that, Alya turned her phone around to reveal a picture of her and Chloe. Or Marinette, apparently.

"But… I don't understand."

"You and me both," Alya said. "But I'm one step away from finding out the answers because I am _not_ okay with that. How do you know her?"

"I tutor her," Adrien explained. "She needed some notes…" realization struck him. "She always had me sign off a note to Ms. Mendeleiev that she was there. Chloe Bourgeois, not Marinette."

"So Chloe _did_ drag her into something," Alya growled. "I don't believe it. And she just went with it? Oh! That girl owes me one _heck_ of an explanation."

"Wait!" Adrien said. "I just remembered, last week, during tutoring, she was really stressed out about something and mentioned blackmail—"

"What!" Alya screeched. "That's it. Nino, raincheck. I've got a witch to murder."

"Alya!"

But it was too late, she was gone.

"Bro," Nino said. "I'd love to go after her, but I got a set in two minutes. Can you please just follow her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?"

"I got you, buddy."

Adrien was happy to leave the party, but following Alya was a task and a half. That girl ran all the way across campus before Adrien caught up.

"I'm helping you get to the bottom of this."

"Fine," she relented.

It was ten minutes later that Alya was banging on a dorm room door. "Marinette! You got some 'splaining to do!"

They waited another moment before the door swung open. "What is—" she stopped and stared at Adrien like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Yeah," Alya said. "Start talking."

Marinette let them both into the room. "My roommate's out," she said as she shut the door behind her.

"So," Alya said, marching right in and sitting in Marinette's chair. "Care to explain why you're impersonating the wicked witch of all Paris?"

Marinette wrung her hands together. "Because she's blackmailing me."

"We know," Alya said, pointing to Adrien. "So why'd you tell him and not me?"

"Because," Marinette began but quickly faltered. "I don't know. I guess I knew you better and knew how you'd react and that if you went to do anything, the picture would end up all over the campus."

"What picture?" Alya said.

Marinette looked at her. " _The_ picture."

Adrien was lost when Alya's jaw hit the floor. "She still has that?"

"Of course, she would!" Marinette cried. "Like she'd get rid of it."

Alya sank back into the chair, losing quite a bit of fight in the process.

"What picture?" Adrien asked.

Marinette's face turned tomato red, and if Adrien was going to guess, she wasn't going to tell him about it.

"So what can we do about it?" he asked instead. "Because if you think I'm just going to let this continue, you're wrong."

She shrugged. "It's not like this was all that bad to do," she said. "I really did need your help, so it was only a matter of getting you to sign off on the slip."

"I don't care," he said. "What I care about is the fact you're being used and I'm not okay with that."

Her eyes widened and brows shot upwards in surprise. "You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because I lied to you. And continued to even after you took me on a date."

"You two went on a date!" Alya cried.

But she went ignored. "Were you lying to me about anything else? Your personality? Your family? Your passions?"

She shook her head.

"Then no, I'm not mad at you," he assured. "But I'm not going to let this continue."

"Can't you just let it go?" Marinette asked. "Chloe's going to find out and—"

"No," he said. "I'm _not_ going to just let it go, and she's _not_ going to find out. I promise."

She bit her lip.

"Trust me," he said.

Slowly, Marinette nodded. "Okay."

* * *

Marinette was a little nervous about the plan. But at the same time, it made perfect sense. Chloe was never going to figure out Marinette told someone she was being blackmailed because, in theory, she was going to reveal that information herself.

Adrien slid his hand in between her clasped ones. "Calm down," he said, forcing her hands apart so that he could hold her hand. "We've gone over this. It's going to be fine."

She grabbed onto his hand tight. "I hope so."

The knock on her door had her jumping from her skin.

Adrien chuckled but gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "Now," he whispered. "Just like we practiced. Everything will be fine."

With a nod, Marinette got up and answered the door.

"Well," Chloe said. "Did you get it signed or not?"

"I did," Marinette said. She turned towards her desk to grab the sheet.

And that's when Adrien did his part. "Hi, are you a friend of Chloe's?"

Chloe froze for a moment before looking him over with a grin Marinette knew she would. Adrien was a looker, and he was also Chloe's type.

"I am," she purred without missing a beat. "I'm Marinette. And you are?"

"Adrien. I'm her tutor."

And that's when Marinette had the pleasure of watching Chloe blanch.

"She's doing really well, too," he bragged. "Normally, teachers would stop mandating tutoring by now. I don't know why she's getting called out from the teachers about it. Maybe I should go talk to Ms. Mendeleiev."

"No," Chloe said too quickly before setting herself. "Don't bother. She's impossible to deal with, really."

"But Chloe doesn't need to be mandated anymore, not when she's doing so well and getting help on her own accord."

"Who knows why?" Chloe dismissed. "But it doesn't matter, does it? Chloe's getting all the help she needs."

"I just want her to get back on Ms. Mendeleiev's good side, you know? She's really amazing." With that, he shot Marinette a lovelorn look.

Marinette couldn't help but blush and giggle, even though it was just for an act.

She also couldn't help but notice just how put off Chloe was by it.

"She is," Chloe said, trying to salvage the situation for her favor. "That's why we're such good friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We've been in the same class for ten years now."

"Nine," Marinette corrected.

Chloe glared at her. "It just feels longer."

Adrien chuckled. "Maybe you can help me talk some sense into Ms. Mendeleiev, then," Adrien said to Chloe. "Being Chloe's friend and all."

Chloe's expression was tense. "Um. Yeah, but, I mean, it's nearly the end of the semester, so what's the point?"

Adrien's brow furrowed. "Yeah, but she still is getting the slips even though she's passing the class with flying colors. Don't you think it's unfair she has to be scrutinized for it?"

Chloe was wordless.

"You know, that settles it," he said, standing. "I'll go talk to Ms. Mendeleiev now. I know she has some free time right now." He stood and placed his hands on Marinette's shoulders. "I'll go straighten all this out. Okay? We can study together tomorrow with some coffee? How about it?" he shot a wink at her only she could see.

It was a good thing he was holding her up because act or no, she felt like she was going to faint. "Coffee! Yeah. Good. I mean, sounds good. S-see you?"

He chuckled and gave her shoulders a squeeze, then walked out the door.

The moment the door was shut, Chloe flew into a rage. "You idiot!"

"What did I do?"

Chloe, surprisingly, struggled for an answer. "You didn't stop him."

"But the he would have known something was wrong, wouldn't he? It's not like I could tell him the reason I have to seek tutoring is because you're blackmailing me."

"But now, we're both going to be in trouble," Chloe said. She then pulled out her phone. "And if I'm going down, you're coming with me."

The tears in Marinette's eyes were real, but they were mostly just frustrated. "Fine! Do it! Just show the world that picture and then you'll never be able to hold anything over my head again. I won't have to participate in another scheme of yours ever again."

The silence was tense, but Chloe eventually put her phone away. "You win this round. Marinette. Don't expect to win another." With a flick of her hair, Chloe marched out the door and slammed it behind her.

Marinette was thankful for the long moment she got to recompose herself before Adrien showed up again.

He shot her a smile that made her knees go weak. "So, how'd it go?"

With a growing grin, Marinette launched herself at him, wrapping her arms up around his neck in a tight hug. "Thank you."

Once his shock wore off, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "You were the one that stood up to her at the end, though."

"But I couldn't have done it without you," she countered.

He shrugged. "You're welcome."

"I owe you so big," she said.

"Well," he said, pulling away to reveal a smirk. "I'd like a proper date with you, _Marinette._ "

She grinned, a blush coating her cheeks as he raised her hand up to his lips so as to press a kiss to her knuckles. "I think that can be arranged."


End file.
